While Brad Gushue was on the phone to Air Canada to get a reservation on a red-eye to Newfoundland, and Thomas Ulsrud was on the phone to Calgary to book ice for a the next couple of days, Laycock was wondering if he should phone Bottcher in Spain to suggest they do a deal.

“I’m thinking I should skip these guys in the Alberta provincials and send Bottcher over to Estevan to skip my team in the Saskatchewan provincials,” Laycock joked of taking over the team that went 4-4 in the Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials and qualified in the elite eight for the big cheques here on the weekend.

So, for a big event like this in his own backyard, why would Bottcher be in Spain?

“He’s there coaching some mixed doubles and taking a vacation,” reported third Darren Moulding.

From the outside looking in, it’s hard not to question the leadership involved in a move like that less than two weeks before the Alberta provincial championships in Spruce Grove. But Moulding said the team that includes Brad Thiessen and Karrick Martin is cool with it.

“Brendan booked that trip in the summer and he told us about it in July. He’ll be home on Monday to prepare for provincials 10 days away in Spruce Grove.”

Laycock skipped Bottcher’s Edmonton team into the elite eight and the prize money brackets round of the $250,000 Pinty’s Slam Series Canadian Open here Friday.

Not many eyes were on Laycock’s noon draw 8-1 win over Toronto’s John Epping because Canada’s Olympic team, skipped by Kevin Koe, was facing elimination against defending Brier and world champion Gushue. Two time world champion and last year’s silver medalist, Niklas Edin, was in a similar edge-of-the-cliff contest against 2010 Olympic silver medalist Ulsrud.

Gushue and Ulsrud ended up losing and are headed home from the final event prior to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, while Koe and Edin won the right to return for the 8 p.m. draw against Epping and Bruce Mouat of Great Britain respectively to stay in town for a shot at the $30,000 first place money.

In Friday’s 8 p.m. draw, Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers tripled up USA’s John Schuster 9-3 to qualify in the C Event along with Koe, who won 7-4 over Epping, and Edin downed Mouat 8-7 in an extra end.

For Gushue, not being around for the final weekend is weird. He’s owned this event since they went to the win-three-before-you-lose-three format, ending up in every final since 2014 and winning twice, including last year.

“It feels strange, but I’m not shocked by it, knowing how we felt coming in here and how tired we are,” said the skip, who will go to the Brier this year as Team Canada. “I think we put in a good effort, I just don’t think there were enough reserves to muster up the energy to play at the level we normally do.”

Gushue said it turned into a strange event on the men’s side this year.

“I think a lot of teams here are looking two or three weeks down the road to the Olympics. You want to perform. But you can get caught looking ahead.”

And some did.

“What do I tell you?” asked Ulsrud, who gave up three in a 6-5 loss to Edin. “We played a pretty good game before the last end and in the last end we had nothing.

“I think we have the potential to play well at the Olympics but we definitely need to practice a lot and get tighter. We have too many loose shots.”

The women ran much more true to form when it came to making it to the final weekend.

Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland, EunJung Kim of Korea and Michelle Englot of Winnipeg made it through C Event here Friday evening with wins over Anna Hasselborg of Sweden, Kerri Einarson of Winnipeg and Nina Roth of the USA, respectively.

The women’s quarter-finals are set for 10 a.m. Saturday, with the men’s scheduled for 2 p.m. and the men’s an women’s semifinals on tap at 6 p.m. Sunday’s women’s final goes at 10:30 a.m. and the men’s final at 2:30 p.m.

First place pays $30,000, second $18,000, third and fourth $12,000 and quarter-final losers each receive $8,000.

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